The House upon the Hill.
I.
It was the house upon the hill. The moon was lying still. There were
shadows among the trees. The leaves were whispering in the
breeze.
A new couple was moving in. Their names were Will and Grace. They were
having their house warming party tonight. Their BMW cabrulet was
standing in the driveway. Tonight they would have a s?ance with their
friends, two other couples, to find out how the original owner of the
house had died. She was an old lady who was as Buddhist, and who had
been found in the house with a bread knife stuck in her heart. The
murderer had not yet been apprehended, and there were no likely
suspects.
The s?ance was just their up market way of having a bit of fun while
welcoming themselves to their new home. Soon the first of their friends
arrived in the driveway. It was Raymond and Maureen in their Mercedes
Benz coupe. They were quickly ushered into the house by their hostess,
Grace. They had hardly settled inside when the last couple arrived in
their red RV. It was Simon and Emily. They were also soon shown inside
by Grace.
The party started with the usual, Bourbon on the rocks. Only much later
was the contraband moonshine brought forth by the host, when the party
was well and truly underway. Then they each made a line from the 'coke'
Raymond had brought along, and at about ten to twelve they sat down to
hold their s?ance. They were all high, both mentally, and in spirit.
They all looked forward to the little game they were about to play.
They sat in a circle around the dining room table, with each male
sitting next to his female companion.
"Are we all ready?" asked Grace with a slight giggle.
"Yes." "Yes." "Yes." "Yes." "Yes." Were the responses from the
others.
"Ok lovey, will you do the honors?" she then asked Will.
"Sure." Said he, and when they had all taken hands, he started to hum
softly to himself before beginning to call up the spirit of the dead
old lady who had owned the house prior to them, and who had been so
brutally murdered.
"Old lady, old lady of the house, can you hear me?" he said with what
almost sounded like mock seriousness. There was silence for a while
before he tried again, with the faint accompaniment of female
giggles.
"Old lady, old lady of the house on the hill, can you hear me?" he
called again, but this time louder. Still there was no response. He
decided to have one more try, as the others were now really starting to
appreciate the joke, and was tittering uncontrollably amongst
themselves.
"Old lady. Old lady of the house upon the hill, can you hear me?" he
called out loud.
Silence again, apart from the giggling in the background of the others
present. Then the old grandfather clock in the hall boomed out twelve
o' clock.
There was darkness in the house, and simultaneously a mighty roar, and
flashes of light. A screaming wail from beyond the great divide came
into the house, and made an onslaught on their ears and their nerves.
In the kitchen a drawer opened, and the bread knife came floating from
it unaided. The bread knife then flew through the air at great speed,
picking up momentum as it traveled through the air.
In the darkness the bread knife lunged into Will's chest and through
his heart. When the lights came back on the others found him bleeding
and dead on the floor, with the bread knife stuck through his
heart.
"I think she heard you." Said Raymond and Maureen hushed him as it was
an inappropriate joke for the moment.
The lights went out again, and the tumultuous thunder returned along
with the terrible wailing of the old women from hell in the background.
The kitchen drawer was still open, and now the carving knife was lifted
as if with an invisible hand, and came flying through the air into the
dining room where they were sitting, straight to Raymond. It stabbed
deep into his chest, puncturing his heart, and he fell lifeless to the
floor.
When the lights came on again no made another joke as the women were to
busy screaming, and last man left, Simon, did not see any more humor in
the nights activities.
They called the police immediately, and were greatly affronted when
they were taken down to the station and given a thorough grilling. It
seemed the police were not convinced by their explanations. But when
they all stuck to the same story, the police eventually, and
begrudgingly, let them go.
Simon and Emily quickly left in their red RV, and promised to attend
the double funeral. As Grace and Maureen had both been left without a
companion they decided to collect Grace's most valuable belongings, and
that she would then move in with Maureen for a few days, until she
could get the house sold, and find a new place.
Grace climbed under the yellow police tape, and unlocked the front
door, which opened smoothly and invitingly under her hand.
II.
Once inside they avoided the bloody patches in the dining room and went
straight to Grace's bedroom to get her clothes.
They packed her suitcases in a great hurry, and then left the master
bedroom, walking down the hallway to the stairwell. It was late in the
afternoon and the sun was going down, because the police had kept them
busy at the station for a long time.
They climbed down the stairwell, and the rooms at the bottom of the
house were already growing dark with the lengthening shadows. They
crossed the lobby and turned the front door, but it would not open, no
matter how hard they tried. It was unlocked and yet it would not yield
under any amount of pressure.
Then the house grew pitch dark inside, although it was still twilight
outside. A wind swept through the house, accompanies by a mighty roar.
The screaming shriek of the damned woman from beyond the grave howled
through the walls of the house again, and they both started running,
looking for an open window.
The drawer in the kitchen flew open again, and the bread knife and the
carving knife slid out, floating in the air. They glided at great speed
through the air in the tumultuous roar of the dark house. They flew
straight for Maureen and Grace, where there backs were turned as they
were trying to force open a window which was stuck shut.
The bread knife entered Maureen's back, went through her ribcage and
punctured her heart. She died almost instantly. The carving knife did
the same to Grace. Soon their bloody corpses lay lifeless on the floor,
and the roars and screams in the house subsided.
The neighbors called the police on account of the noise that they heard
in the house, and they came over to investigate. Finding the two dead
women left them truly baffled once more, and they again called in the
only remaining suspects; Simon and Emily.
Again they grilled them through the night with questioning down at the
police station, but became none the wiser as to the cause of the
killings.
III.
A few days later, after the four funerals, Simon and Emily went to
remove all their friends' belongings from the house, in order to send
them to their parents.
The lock turned smoothly with the key and the door opened invitingly.
They stepped inside and closed the door behind them. It was a late
Saturday afternoon and the sun was already setting in the west, casting
the rooms in gloomy light.
They had some large cardboard boxes that they had brought with, in
which they threw Will and Grace's earthly possessions, in a careless
way. It was nearly dark when they had completed the unpleasant task to
their satisfaction, and they were in a great hurry to be off.
They had loaded all the boxes in their red RV, and only a few suitcases
remained. Simon closed the boot, and they both ventured into the house
one last time to retrieve the suitcases. They were standing in the
lobby at the bottom of the stairs, and as Simon and Emily stooped to
pick them up, the front door slammed closed with great force.
A roaring wind went up through the house, and along with it came the
demonic tortured screams of some old bedeviled woman from beyond the
grave. Her evil rantings were a series of moans, groans, insults and
mockery combined. The kitchen drawer slid open once more, and the
carving knife and the bread knife came floating from its inside.
They flew through the air at great speed, and split up in the lobby.
The bread knife found Simon as he was running up the stairs, and
stabbed him in the back, killing him instantly, but not before he had
time to let out a horrific death howl.
Emily had time to take refuge in a small closet in the downstairs
passageway, and lay shivering with fear in the darkness. The carving
came flying through the passage and found her hiding place instantly.
It soon applied it self to the thin hardboard door, easily gashing
great holes in it.
Emily lay in the darkness, as the carving knife ripped the flimsy door
to pieces. Outside in the dark house there was a roar of sound, and
flashing of light, and in the background an evil deranged old soul was
screaming from the depths of hell;
"No one escapes the house upon the hill!"
Note: The opening paragraph of this story is an adaptation of lyrics by
Jim Morrison and The Doors.
